Kashmiri Pandits
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Kashmiri Pandits
The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha-Gauda, Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, located within the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiri Pandits are Hindu Kashmiris native to the Kashmir Valley, and the only remaining Hindu Kashmiris after the large-scale conversion of the Valley's population to Islam during medieval times. Prompted by the growth of Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, Islamic militancy in the valley, large numbers left in the Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, exodus of the 1990s. Even so, small numbers remain. History Early history The Hindu caste system of the Kashmir region was influenced by the influx of Buddhism from the time of Ashoka, Asoka, around the third century BCE, and a consequence of this was that the traditional lines of Varna (Hinduism), varna were ...
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Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified by adherence to the concept of ''dharma'', a Ṛta, cosmic order maintained by its followers through rituals and righteous living, as expounded in the Vedas. The word ''Hindu'' is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, it has also been described by the modern term ''Sanātana Dharma'' () emphasizing its eternal nature. ''Vaidika Dharma'' () and ''Arya dharma'' are historical endonyms for Hinduism. Hinduism entails diverse systems of thought, marked by a range of shared Glossary of Hinduism terms, concepts that discuss God in Hinduism, theology, Hindu mythology, mythology, among other topics in Hindu texts, textual sources. Hindu texts have been classified into Śruti () and Smṛti (). The major Hin ...
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Turkic Peoples
Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of West Asia, West, Central Asia, Central, East Asia, East, and North Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.. "Turkic peoples, any of various peoples whose members speak languages belonging to the Turkic subfamily...". "The Turkic peoples represent a diverse collection of ethnic groups defined by the Turkic languages." According to historians and linguists, the Proto-Turkic language originated in Central-East Asia, potentially in the Altai-Sayan region, Mongolia or Tuva.: "The ultimate Proto-Turkic homeland may have been located in a more compact area, most likely in Eastern Mongolia": "The best candidate for the Turkic Urheimat would then be northern and western Mongolia and Tuva, where all these haplogroups could have intermingled, rather than eastern and southern Mongolia..." Initially, Proto-Turkic speakers were potentially both hunter-gatherers and farmers; they later became nomadic Pastoralism, ...
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Varna (Hinduism)
Varna (, ), in the context of Hinduism, refers to a social class within a hierarchical traditional Hindu society. The ideology of varna is epitomized in texts like '' Manusmriti'', which describes and ranks four varnas, and prescribes their occupations, requirements and duties, or '' Dharma''. *Brahmins: Vedic scholars, priests or teachers. * Kshatriyas: Rulers, administrators or warriors. * Vaishyas: Agriculturalists, farmers or merchants. * Shudras: Artisans, labourers or servants. This quadruple division is a form of social stratification, quite different from the more nuanced system of '' Jātis'', which correspond to the term "caste". The varna system is discussed in Hindu texts, and understood as idealised human callings. The concept is generally traced back to the '' Purusha Sukta'' verse of the Rigveda. In the post- Vedic period, the varna division is described in the '' Mahabharata,'' ''Puranas'' and in the '' Dharmashastra literatures''. The commentary on the Varna ...
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Ashoka
Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynasty. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to present-day Bangladesh in the east, with its capital at Pataliputra. A patron of Buddhism, he is credited with playing an important role in the spread of Buddhism across ancient Asia. The Edicts of Ashoka state that during his eighth regnal year (), he conquered Kalinga (historical region), Kalinga after a brutal war. Ashoka subsequently devoted himself to the propagation of "Ashoka's policy of Dhamma, dhamma" or righteous conduct, the major theme of the edicts. Ashoka's edicts suggest that a few years after the Kalinga War, he was gradually drawn towards Buddhism. The Buddhist legends credit Ashoka with establishing a larg ...
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Caste System
A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), follow lifestyles often linked to a particular occupation, hold a ritual status observed within a hierarchy, and interact with others based on cultural notions of exclusion, with certain castes considered as either more pure or more polluted than others. The term "caste" is also applied to morphological groupings in eusocial insects such as ants, bees, and termites. The paradigmatic ethnographic example of caste is the division of India's Hindu society into rigid social groups. Its roots lie in South Asia's ancient history and it still exists; however, the economic significance of the caste system in India seems to be declining as a result of urbanisation and affirmative action programs. A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and ant ...
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Sun Temple Martand Indogreek
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light and infrared radiation with 10% at ultraviolet energies. It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. The Sun has been an object of veneration in many cultures. It has been a central subject for astronomical research since antiquity. The Sun orbits the Galactic Center at a distance of 24,000 to 28,000 light-years. Its distance from Earth defines the astronomical unit, which is about or about 8 light-minutes. Its diameter is about (), 109 times that of Earth. The Sun's mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, making up about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. The mass of outer layer of the Sun's atmosphere, its ''photosphere'', consists mostly of hydrogen (~73%) and helium (~25%), with much smaller ...
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Insurgency In Jammu And Kashmir
The insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, also known as the Kashmir insurgency, is an ongoing separatist militant insurgency against the Indian administration in Jammu and Kashmir, a territory constituting the southwestern portion of the larger geographical region of Kashmir, which has been the subject of a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947.(a) (subscription required); (b) C. E Bosworth, University of Manchester Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China." Jammu and Kashmir, long a breeding ground of separatist ambitions, Quote: "The Himalayan territory of Kashmir has long been the central source of friction between India and Pakistan and a hotbed of separatist aspirations." has experienced the insurgency since 1989. Quote: "Kashmir is claimed by India and Pakistan in full and ruled in part by both. An insurgency on the Indian-administered side has b ...
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Jammu And Kashmir (union Territory)
Jammu and Kashmir ( J&K) is a region administered by India as a union territory and consists of the southern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and between India and China since 1959.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:TERTIARY, tertiary sources (a) through (e), reflecting WP:DUE, due weight in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (h) through (i) below, "held" is also considered politicised usage, as is the term "occupied", (see (j) below). (a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1 ...
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Union Territory
Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, state government systems. Unlike states, Union Territories do not have their own full-fledged government but are administered by a Lieutenant governor or Administrator appointed by the President of India. Union Territories are created for various reasons, including geographical importance, strategic necessity, or historical factors. These areas are under the control of the central government to ensure uniformity in governance across the country. Some Union Territories, such as Delhi (National Capital Territory) and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry, have been granted special status and are allowed to have their own legislative assemblies, which can pass laws on certain matters, though the central government still retains significant ...
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Pancha-Gauda
Pancha Gauda is one of the two major groupings of Brahmins in Hinduism, of which the other is Pancha-Dravida. In ''Rajatarangini'' According to Kalhana's ''Rajatarangini'' (c. 12th century CE), the Pancha Gauda group includes the following five Brahmin communities, which according to the text, reside to the north of the Vindhyas: * Sarasvata * Kanyakubja * Gauda * Utkala * Maithila In the ''Sahyadri-khanda'' The '' Sahyadri-khanda'', considered a part of the ''Skanda Purana'', also mentions the same classification as the ''Rajatarangini''.; Marathi version edited by Gajanan shastri Gaytonde, published by Shree Katyani Publication, Mumbai For example, fragments of the ''Sahyadri-khanda'', featured in Hemadri's ''Chatur-varga-chintamani'' (13th century), quote Shiva to provide this classification. The text identifies its heroes, the Shenvis, as Sarasvatas. In the text, Shiva also provides an alternative classification of Pancha Gaudas, stating that the ancient sages m ...
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Saraswat Brahmin
Saraswat Brahmins are spread over widely separated regions spanning from Kashmir and Punjab in North India to Konkan in West India to Kanara (coastal region of Karnataka) and Kerala in South India. In places such as western and southern India, the claim of Brahminhood of some communities who claim to be Saraswat Brahmins is disputed. The word ''Saraswat'' is derived from the Rigvedic Sarasvati River. Classification Saraswats Brahmins are classified under the Pancha Gauda Brahmin classification of the Brahmin community in India. In Western and South India, along with the Chitpavan, Karhades (including Padhyes, Bhatt Prabhus), and Konkani-speaking Saraswat Brahmins are referred to as Konkani Brahmins, which denotes those Brahmin sub-castes of the Konkan coast which have a regional significance in Maharashtra and Goa. Based on Veda and Vedanta In Karnataka and Kerala, Majority of Gaud Saraswat Brahmins are followers of Madhvacharya, while the Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins ar ...
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